The largest mosque complex in western Europe, which can hold up to 10,000 worshippers, was today being opened in Morden, Surrey.

The Ahmadi Muslims, who constructed the first London mosque in Putney, south-west London, almost 80 years ago, have built the huge architectural landmark.

The new structure, which is adorned with a 15.5 metre dome, is named the Baitul Futuh mosque. Its construction was funded entirely by voluntary donations from individual community members.

The inauguration ceremony is expected to symbolise how the community, which condemns any form of extremism, has peacefully co-existed and integrated in Britain for almost a century.

Hadhrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad, the new worldwide supreme head of the community, will inaugurate the mosque with Friday prayers.

British devotees, together with representatives from about 50 other countries, are expected to fill the mosque to its capacity for the occasion.

Rafiq Ahmed Hayat, president of the UK community, said: "It's a second historic occasion for the Ahmadi Muslims to add to the heritage of British culture and to the presence of the Muslim community in Britain.

"We built the very first London mosque in 1924, which has become a tourist landmark of south-west London. This time, we have produced the largest and the most sophisticated mosque in Britain to serve as a landmark for the next century."

People from the US, Ghana, Sierra Leone and Germany are expected to attend the opening ceremony, a spokesman said.

The Ahmadiyya Muslim community was founded in Qadian, India, by Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad in March 1889. In a little over a century, it has spread to 174 countries and has 200 million followers from around the world.